Friday, January 3, 2014

LiLo- 2013 goal wrap up

I am only a few days late after ringing in the New Year. I wanted to pause for a moment and remember 2013.

For LiLo- it was a banner year! (See future post for personal-2013 wrap up). It was fun to take a look at the professional goals that I wrote back in January of 2013. I was pleased when I took a look at the things I wanted to accomplish and found that I did accomplish most of them.

Here were my goals for 2013:
1. Grow Business (check)
In 2012, I did 44 photo sessions. In 2013, I did 67 sessions.

2. More Newborn Photo Sessions (check)
In 2012, I did 5 newborn sessions. In 2013, I did 12 newborn sessions. That is more than double!

3. Get more year-round business- not just late summer-fall (check)
I still did more than half of my business after September, but I did have more consistent work throughout the year.

4. Improve Photoshop skills- (check, but still want to work more on this)
What can I say about this? Practice, practice, practice. The more you work with something, the better you get. I have made a few ground breaking discoveries in Photoshop that have helped my editing skills! I am still learning but I am getting better at taking pictures as well so my pictures are better straight out of the camera as well! That helps with editing.

5. Be better at taking and printing/sharing/scrapbooking personal pictures (ummmm. could use some work still)
I still did not do very well in the scrapbooking department. I used to have some family/friends that I would go away for a weekend or two a year and scrapbook but that has gone by the wayside. I would still love to do it as I would get a TON done during those weekends. Perhaps I need to find some new scrapbooking friends and get away for a weekend. I have a cabin we can use. Who is in?

6. Buy a new camera body and maybe a new lens (check)
YES!! My old camera body was giving me some focus issues and it was driving me crazy. I was able to get a new camera body by doing some work with Jefferson County and their foster care/at risk youth department. I love my new body (hee hee) and the focus is SOOOOO much better. I was also able to buy a used lens from my mentor. Thanks Rene for upgrading your lens so I could buy your old one.

7. Spend more time on blogging (check)
Blogging is hard and VERY time consuming. I don't know how some people do it so often. However, I was much more consistent with my blogging and had 82 posts this year compared to 60 in 2012.

8. Spend more time on LiLo (check... sometimes it seemed like way too much time. Need balance)
This one is tricky. I did spent WAY more time on LiLo this year. My business was very successful and I am very thankful. I would love to grow the business even more in 2014!

Yee-haw! There is nothing like setting some goals, working hard to meet them and then look back at the goals you set and see your dreams come to life!

Now on to 2014!

Last year I was kind of ashamed of my goal setting and didn't tell anyone about them and hid them in my desk. This year I am going to be bold. I am going to set my goals out in front of all of you!

In 2014 I want to....

1. Increase my business even more!
2. Be better with social media (blogging, Facebook, Instagram).
3. Create better boundaries for working from home.
4. Take a class (or two) on Newborn or Family Photography.
5. Increase and expand my wedding sessions.
6. Continue to improve my photography and editing skills.
7. Not be so critical of my photography skills (especially when it comes to personal pictures) and take more personal pictures. Sometimes I get burned out and don't want to lug around my "big camera".
8. Get IN more pictures. Sometimes because I am the "photographer in the family", I tend to take all of the pictures and not get in them. I need to be better at setting my timer and getting in the shots, myself.
9. Do a few "just for fun" sessions where I can be more creative and use fun props!

I am going to stick with 9 for now....because 9 is my favorite number and because 10 sounds like one too many!

How many of you write your goals down and then have fun looking back on them to see how you did?